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Drinkwater 



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Family. 



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The 
Drinkwater 



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Family. 






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E. E. PILLSBURY PRINTING CO, 
Belfast, Maine. 



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Yl^e Drinkwatei' Fhn,ilY 



The family of Drinkwater can trace its 
history into the distant past botli in this 
country and in Enaland. The present t,'en- 
eration can trace its ancestry through two 
separate lines, to the passen<rers of the 
Mayflower, and before that time the Drink- 
water or Derwentwater name was prominent 
in England. James IJadcliff is referred to 
as the last Earl of Derwentwater, showing 
that the family was an old one in his day. 
He was born in 1688, in Northumberland, 
was educated in France, and on the death 
of his father in 1705 he succeeded to the 
title and the estates. In 1715 he, with the 
Earl of Marr, whose estates were just over 
the border in Scotland, headed the rebellion 
for the purpose of placing James Edward, 
generally known as '"the Pretender'' on the 
throne of England. The attemi)t proved a 
failure, and Kadcliff was taken prisoner in 
battle, condemned on charge of high 



treason and beheaded on Tower Plill Feb. 
24, 1716, when but 28 years of age. He was 
a brave and skillful warrior, a courteous 
and amiable gentleman, and his fate was 
mourned by the people as a public calamity. 

That the family is of even older date 
than the time of Radcliff is shown by the 
coat of arms granted to Hugh Drink- 
water (or Der went water) of Aberdeen, 
Scotland, in 1615. Copies of this coat of 
arms, finely executed in oil, on parchment, 
are in possession of descendants of Joseph 
Drinkwater, who died in North Yarmouth, 
Me., in 1784. 

The Drinkwater family in this section 
of Maine can trace its origin to a common 
ancestor, Micajah Drinkwater, who came 
from North Yarmouth and settled in North- 
port on the farm now owned by his grand- 
son, Mathew Drinkwater. Micajah's grand- 
father, Thomas Drinkwater, was born in 
England and came to America when a 
young man, settling in Tatmton, Mass. He 
married Elizabeth Haskell, a daughter of 
John and Patience (Soule) Haskell. Pa- 
tience Soule was a daughter of George 
Soule who came over in the Mayflower in 



5 



1020. Tlu>m;is i)iu.k\\utii cm d in 1710. 
His son .luM'jih'niarriid .laiu' Lntliani (or 
L<'i^'liton) and was one of tin- farl> hottUrs 
of Xorth Yarnioutli. 

From 107-') t«» 17l:i all tlu- coast ht-ttle- 
ments of Maine sufTt'ii<l from tlu- Indian 
wars, and X(»rth Yarmouth %va.>- aMandoncd. 
It was ri'Sfttli'd in 1721-2, and .Joseph and 
Jane Drinkwater were amou^' th<»8e w1k» 
had the courage to setth- there. They 
raised a family of nine sons and two 
daughters, as fiijlows: 

John, nu SiTsail' Staples. 

Michael (Micajah) h. l*:. I", t.v (or 

Eli/aheth) Bradford. 

Thomas. 

Phineas, m. Sweetser. 

Samuel, ni. (Barbour. I / 

David, m. lilichel $;o(ver.; 7 

Daniel, m. Kehecca Fisher. 

William. 

Sarah, m. Sylvanus Voun^j. 

Hannah, m. Caj-t Veter Weare. 

Micajah Drinkwater, Kt»n t»f Joseph 
and Janet Latham Drinkwater. was b«<rn 
January 2'», 17-V.», in the (iarrison lioiise on 



6 



the eastern end of Couseus' Island in Cas- 
co Bay, then a part of North Yarmouth. 
He married Elizabeth (or Betsy) Bradford, 
a descendant of William Bradford, the 
second Colonial Governor of Massachusetts, 
and a fellow passenger on the Mayflower 
with Micajah's ancestor, George Soule. 
Elizabeth Bradford was a daughter of Wil- 
liam Bradford, who was probably a son of 
Lieutenant Governor William Bradford, 
and a grandson of Governor William Brad- 
ford. She was a lady of rare qualities of 
both mind and heart, and was familiarly 
known among the younger generations as 
"Grandmother Bradford." 

Micajah Drinkwater died about 1825 
or '30, and his wife about the same time. 
Their family was as follows: 
Ammi, m. Hannah McKenny. 
James, b. 1783, m. Miriam Stetson. 
Micajah Jr., m. Amy Wymau, d. April 30, 
1851. 

Lemuel, m. Rebecca Veazie, d. December 
27, 1849. 

Josiah, b. November 17, 1770, m. Julia , 

Eunice Wyman, Rachael Parker, d. July 
3, 1858. 



.It'hii. (lii'il uninarriid. 

Zenas, It. Novcinhrr U. lTt'»>. m. Cynthia A. 

rendletun, d .lamiary 2S. ls.'):j. 

Nancy, m. Solonmn Krohock. 

William, ni. Liuy Williams. 

Betsy, ni. .lolin Kin^ht. 

, ni. .Itilin Clark. 

, ni. Chase. 

Tlu' towns of Noithjiort an<l Lintoln- 
ville were formerly knt>wn as the I'laiita- 
tions tif Diu'ktrajt and Canaan, and wtrt* 
settled alunit 17S0. Mieajah Drinkwali-r. 
his st)ns and sons-in-law settle<l on the 
farms ah»n<j the shore hetween Saturday 
Cove and Lincolnville Beaeh. Norlhport 
was incorojtrated June 18. \1W, an<l Lin- 
Cidnville in 1S02. Prior to 1T'.»S all thin sec- 
tion was in Lincidn Ci»unty : in that year 
Hancock County was fornuMl, ami in 1827. 
Waldo County was set olT. Thus the 
Drinkwater homestead has hem in three 
counties; was first in a itroj»riftory jdan- 
tation. and is now in (»ne of tlu- ohU-ht 
towns in the State. Whrn Dticktrap was 
first settled it was a i>art of thi- Wahh» Tal- 
ent, and was »»wned hy General Samuel 
Waldo. In 17i»2 it l>erame the i»r»»i>erty of 



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General Heury Knox, and in 1802 of Thorn- 
dike, Sears and Prescott. From these 
various owners Micajah and his earlier de- 
scendants bought their farms. 

In the year 1800 the Governments of 
the United States and France made a 
treaty, one clause of which was that France 
should pay to the United States the value 
of all property of the United States or its 
citizens which had been destroyed or taken 
by French privatiers prior to that date. 
The claims were all paid into the United 
States Treasury soon after, but it was not 
until 80 years later that our government 
paid the amounts due to our own citizens. 
These were known as the French Spoliation 
claims. One of these claims, presented in 
1819 by Jane Gardiner, administratrix, was 
on account of the brig Ca Ira, taken by a 
French privatier in 1797. The vessel was 
owned by Joseph Drinkwater, and com- 
manded by Captain Allen Drinkwater, 
both of North Yarmouth. The full amount 
allowed was $6,344, of which $3,434 was to 
Joseph Drinkwater; $2,210 to Elisha Gard- 
iner, another owner, and the remainder in 
lots of $100 or $200 to the underwriters 



9 



and others of Portland. The Diinkwaterg 
here mentioned were probably brotliers of 
Micajali. 

It i« rehited of the nine sons of .Josepli 
Drinkwater, the son of Thomas, that all 
were masters of vessels, and all chanced Ut 
arrive in Uostou the same day. The otH- 
cer in command of the fort, learning that 
so many vessels had ])assed in, all in com- 
mand of men of the same name, feared 
that some mischief was brewing aud went 
up to the city to investigate the matter. 
He was surprised to find that it was true, 
and that the men were all brothers. He 
invited them to supper with him, and the 
event was long held in remembrance as 
having been in "Good old P^nglish style." 

West Drinkwater and Elizabeth Elwell 
were married September 22, 1814, and the 
next morning, after the bridegroom had 
gone to his work, his young wife saw two 
barges tilled with armed British soldiers 
approaching the shore. She notitied tht- 
first man she could li n d, Zachariali 
Lawrence, and he went to the shore with 
his musket and secreted himself. When 
the boats ajtproached he began giving 



10 



orders as to a force of i^oldiers, and to 
increase the deception dodged from tree to 
tree and fired at the boats from different 
points. The boats withdrew for re-inforce- 
ments, and while they were gone West 
Drinkwater, Alban Elweil, Solomon 
Frohock and David Alden collected a force 
and prepared to meet them. The party 
soon returned with re-inforcements, and 
by use of a swivel gun on one of the boats 
drove the defenders back. The British 
plundered the store of Jones Shaw and 
several houses, taking, among other things, 
the dresses and other finery worn by th^ 
ladies at the wedding the night before. 
Capt. Amos Pendleton afterwards went to 
Castine and recovered some of the property. 
During the latter part of October, the 
same year, a crew consisting of West 
Drinkwater, Kingsbury Duncan, Jonathan 
Clark, Samuel Duncan and John Duncan, 
under command of Major Noah Miller, 
went on a cruise in Penobscot bay for the 
purpose of preventing supplies being car- 
ried to Castine for the British. Nov. 1st, 
they overhauled the British sloop Mary, 
near Turtle Head, and after a chase and 



11 



some trouble with lior crew, succeedetl in 
capturing her. She had on board a valu- 
able cargo consisting priucii«ally of satins, 
laces, shawls, clothing, bales of cloth, etc. 
for the British officers and their taniilies at 
Castine. The sloop and cargo were sold 
in Portland, the net proceeds being 
>;66,426.34. One-half was paid into the 
treasury of the United States and the other 
half was divided among the men who made 
the capture. Major Miller and Collector 
Hook of the custom house each claimed 
and received $14,100.58, and the men re- 
ceived but 61000 each. The injustice thus 
done the crew was remedied in 18o0, by 
Congress voting to give to Drinkwater, 
Clark and the three Duncans the half for- 
merly taken by the Government, and the 
amount, $22,213.17, was e(iually divided 
among them or their heirs. 

Col. Drinkwater, the English historian, 
published a '' History of the Siege of Gib- 
raltar," and in 1785, established the "Gar- 
rison library " with 45,000 volumes and an 
excellent reading room at Gibraltar. 

One of the most i)opular authors ol 
books for girls, Mrs. Jennie Maria Drink- 



12 



water Conk 1 ill, died April 30, 1901. She 
was born iu Portland in 1841, and was 
married in 1880 to Rev. Nathaniel Conklin. 
Among- her published works are "Tessa 
Wadsworth's Discipline," "Miss Pru- 
dence," " Fairfax Girls," and others. 



n 



C\U}\0}\^. 



Ill the latter part of Aui^ust, 1898, a 
party met in a cottage at Xortlii)ort ( ainp- 
groiiud, and one of the number remarked 
tliat all present were of Drinkwater descent. 
This led to arrangements for a reunion, 
which was held on the Micajah Drinkwater 
farm in Xorthport, September 2nd, the 
same year. Notice was sent to such as 
could be conveniently reached, and about 
fifty i)eisons attended the meeting. A 
clam bake was held and a very enjoyable 
day was spent by all. It was then decided 
to hold a reunion and form an association 
the next year. 

The second reunion was held at Tem- 
l>le Heights, in Northport, August 25, 1809. 
An Association was formed with the fol- 
lowing officers: 

President, Ansel Wadsworth. Vice 
Presideuts, Mathew Drinkwater, North- 
port; Allen L. Drinkwater, Northport; Mrs. 
Aurlia S. Pendleton, Waltham, Mass.; 
Mrs. Fannie E. Sylvester, Belfast; Arm* VV. 



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Knight, Lincolnville ; Emery O. Pendleton. 
Belfast; Mrs. Mary E. Ingalls, Belfast; Mrs. 
Cordelia Drinkwater, Nortliport ; Mrs- 
Orilla McGilvery Bean, Hallowell. 

Secretary, John S. Fernald, Belfast. 

Treasurer, Alban F. Elvvell, Northport. 

The roll-book showed 94 persons 
present and joining the Association. 

The third reunion was held at Temple 
Heights, August 7, 1900. The attendance 
was larger than at the previous meeting, 
but many were kept away by their duties 
at home, it being in "Old Home Week." 
Several members ^rere present from ^lass- 
achusettsand otherStates. The otficers of 
the previous 3'^ear were re-elected with the 
exception of a few changes in the Vice 
Presidents, which are as follows: Mathew 
Drinkwater, Northport; Allen L. Drink- 
water, Northport ; Mrs. Aurelia S. Pendleton 
VTaltham, Mass. : Mrs*. Fannie E. Sylvester, 
Belfast; Arno W. Knight, Lincolnville ; 
Emery O. Pendleton, Belfast ; Thomas O. 
D. Urquhart, Manchester, Mass.; Mrs. 
Cordelia Drinkwater, Northport; Mrs. 
Chas. T. Knight, Northport; Capt. John 
W. McGlivery, Searsport. 



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TO AM- DKINKWATKi: DKSCKN I> V VT> : 

At the second reunion ut tlu- Drink- 
water family, in 1S«M), I l)i'ij::ui Td .-■•lliM-t 
data for a family history, thinking I iniLrht 
have it in form to i)ul>lish in ten years or 
less. I now have records, mon- or h-ss 
complete of 2 05 families, indudinn oJmI 
persons descendant of Mioajali Drinkwater, 
but still lack a large amount of data. 

This little ])amphlet is put fo\th in tlu- 
hope o f awakening a renewi-d intrrest 
among the descendants, by showing brietly 
a few of the interesting points in relation 
to our ancestry. 

I would ask each one who is the head 
of a family to furnish me with the follow- 
ing : 

Names of grandparents on Drink water 
side; names of i>arents; nanu- of huslian«l 
or wife ; names of children. 

With date of birth ; to whom each wixn 
married; date of death of each m«'mber; 
so far as known. 

Also the names of all who served in the 
army or navy in any of the wars «»f the 
United States, especially the Kevolutioii or 
1812. 

This will cost you but 2 cents in pi»>tauc 
and a little troulde. a n d will materiall\ 
hasten the ])ublication of the lii.^tory. 

.TOHX S KKKN'.VLl). 
Aug. ;n, litOl. Belfa.-t. Maine. 



